Dehydrating machine



April 28, 1936-. s. J. RAND DEHYDRATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 24, 1954INVENTOR .5V/a5 James A75/7 ywy ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr'. 28, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE aosasolnEnrnltA'rlNG v.slltie .lames Rand, san .man lei Monte, P.

assignmof one-nali to Allison J. Glbbaallss I Allison Gibbs, Jr.,Manila,- P. I.

Appiieetion oetober 24, 1934, serial No. 749,135

5 claims.' (Cral-7L" An object of my invention is -to provide means forextracting water from vegetable material, such as raw coconut meat.

Another object of my invention is to provide a substantially continuouswater extraction process. A further object of my invention is to disruptthe cells of the material in order to extract the lwater therefrom and,to facilitate subsequent oil extraction.

A further object Vof my invention is in general to reduce the time andincrease the efficiency of water-removing processes of the type specied,

Y by utilizing the machine of my invention.

An additional object of my invention is to y,

minimize any adverse effects which might arise because o'f contact of a`large amount pheric air with the material being dried.

The foregoing and other objects are attained in Athe embodiment of theinvention illustrated .in

the drawing, in which- Fig. l is a cross-section on a longitudinal,diametral plane of a dehydrating machine constructed in accordance withmy invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section the plane of @which is indicated by the lines2--2 of Fig. 1.'-

Fig. 3 is a detail showing in side elevation.a part of the main feedscrew of my dehydrating machine.

While the'machine of` my invention is useful7l r escapes through anoutlet duct 36, butalso water with any suitable sort of vegetablematter, such` as bananas, potatoes and the like,'I nd it especiallyuseful in connection with raw coconut meat which isto be treated vforthe extraction of the oil therefrom, and for that reason I havedescribed my invention herein in that especial connection. In accordancewith my invention, therefore, I provide a framework including up- Yrights 6 and l, each 'of which is provided with .a

face 8 against which are abutted end flanges 9 and I I of a cylindrical'casing I2. The flanges and the casing are held in place by suitablefastenings I3. Adapted to communicate with the interior of the casing I2is a feed hopper I-lwhic'h is dee signedto receive, in relatively largepieces or portions, the `raw coconut meat to be desiccated. Since, inaccordance with mypinvention, I provide means for heating ythe coconutmeat as it is travof atmosersing the machine, I preferably encompass themember I2 with an uterjacket I6 closed by end plates IIv and having aninlet I8 for a heating fluid such as steam, and an outlet I3 for thedischarge of such heating fluid. In accordance with the arrangement asso far described, the shell I2 is subjected to an elevated temperatureexteriorly, and is supplied on its exterior with raw coconut meat to'bedried.

In order ythat the coconut meat maybe finely 10 A divided and thenpropelled through the sh'ell I2, I dispose a feed member 2| to revolvein suit-` able bearings 22 and 23 in the standards 6 and 1. The ,feedmember is a cylindrical body which' is held against axial movementbyanges 2l and 15 26 and is rotated by means of a pulley 21 suitablysecured at one end thereof and connected to a propulsive machine (notshown).

Carried on the member 2l in the vicinity of the throat 3| of the hopperI4 is e grinding unit 32 which has for 20 its purpose the breaking up orcomminuting of the raw coconut meat into small pieces. The degree ofiineness of grinding can, of course, bev

regulated in individuel circumstances by provid;

ing suitable grinding units 32 which are inter- 25 changeably mounted onthe cylinder 2|.

From the grinding unit 32 the finely separated coconut meat is fed vintothe interior of the shelll I 2 into contact with -a thread or worm 33which is preferably formed integrally withfthe cylinder 2I 30 and is ofs uch a pitch and directionthat it ilnpels the coconut meat to iiow inthe direction of r the arrows 34 in contact with'the shell I2 and inthermal relationship to the heating medium heating, notonly is surfaceliquid driven oil' from,k

theraw coconut meat, forming a vapor which which is within the cells ofthe coconut meat sud- 'inside the jacket I6. Asa consequence oi'such 35denly expands into' steam and disrupts such cells, 40

much simpler .and easier. e l

-As the coconut meat travels along in the direction. of the arrows 34,it is increasingly dried,

thereby making the subsequent extractionof oil and,'in order toaccelerate and facilitate such 45 action, the Icoconut'xne'at isagitatedas well aspropelled, by certain ledges 31 formed by axialv interruptionsextending along the member 2| and interrupting the threads 33, s o as'toomit the supporting efreet ofthe' thread walls periodically 50.

and likewiseso that the flat ledges or faces '3l will tend to' throwithecoconut'meat tangentially outward against the 'shelr lz. In thisiasliiopthe coconut 'lneatisconsiderably agitated as it ad- -55 vances,,and -finally arrives-Aat a series of circuln.-

g rection between the apertures 38 and the bearing ferential apertures3B piercing the member 2l and permittingthe coconut meat access to theinterior thereof. Threads 39 are cut in the opposite di- 23, in orderthatcoconut meat will not attempt to continue toward the bearing ortoward the vapor outlet 36.

In order to discharge the suitably dried coconut meat from the machine,but in order not to lose a large amount of the heat therefrom quickly,

and furthermore in order that even 'further drying-out of moisture maycontinue, I provide means` for returning the dried coconut meat throughthe interior of the member 2 I. Such return ilow is effected by means ofa screw conveyor4 4I which is fixed within the cylindrical member 2| andrevolves therewith, but which is so pitched that the coconut meat isimpelled in the direction of the arrows I2 and finally flows from theoutlet 43. Ordinarily, the outlet 43 is directlyconnected to a machinefor expressing the oil from the dried coconut meat. r

In accordance with my invention there is provided a way of tumbling andagitating'the coconut meat. after it" hasv been finely divided, incontact with a suitable heating medium, so that the .water naturallycontained therein is driven olf and so that some of such water, inbursting into steam, disrupts the cellular structure of the raw coconutmeat in order to render subsequent oil expression more eicient.Furthermore, the amount of heat required is relatively small, sinc'e thecoconut meat is not discharged from the machine until such time as ithas had a chance t0, give up a good deal of its heat. In addition,except for small leakages, there is no current of atmospheric airflowing along with the coconut meat, so that it is not necessary to heata large body or volume of air in the machine.

I claim:

l. A dehydrating machine comprising a'framework, an externally threadedhollow feed screw rotatably mounted on said framework, a stationaryheated jacket surrounding said feed screw, means for supplying materialto be dried' to said feed screw, a discharge conveyor within said feedscrew, and means establishing communication between the exterior of saidfeed screw and said conveyor. A

2. A dehydrating machine comprising a framework, a hollow feed screwrotatably mounted on said framework and having an outlet at one end, a`stationary heated jacket surrounding said feed screw, the wall of said4jacket. and the surface of said feed screw together defining acylindrical be dried to one end of said chamber, and means forestablishing communication between the other end of said chamber andthrough the interior of said hollow feed screw to said outlet.

3. A dehydrating machine comprising a cylindrical Vheated jacket, a feedhopper adjacent one end of said jacket, a hollow feed screw journaled t0revolve within said jacket, means on said feed screw adjacent saidhopper for dividing material to be dried, means establishingcommunication between the exterior of said feed screw and the interiorthereof, and means within said feed screw for discharging dried materialtherefrom.

4. A dehydrating machine comprising a framework, a feed screw mountedfor rotation on said framework, said feed screw having a hollow in-vterior, a stationary heated jacket on said framework having animperforate wall spaced from and surrounding said feed screw to providea cylindrical drying chamber between said Wall and the Surface of saidscrew, a feed hopper adjacent one end of said feed screw. andcommunicating with said chamber, means for establishing communi- Vdryingchamber, means for supplying material to cationbetween said chamber andthe interiorof i work, a hollow feed screw mounted for rotation on saidframework, a right-hand thread on one portion'of the exterior of saidscrew, a left-hand thread on another portion of the exterior of saidscrew, means located between said portions for establishingcommunication between the exterior and the interior of said screw, adischarge conveyor within the interior of said feed screw, and astationary jacket on said framework surrounding said screw.

` SILAS JAMES RAND.

